dice

Today EA and DICE offered the smallest glimpse of Mirror’s Edge 2 at last year’s E3. This year, DICE is promising a grander look at the game, while also revealing the game’s new title. The game will be known as Mirror’s Edge Catalyst.

“Mirror’s Edge has always had a special place in the hearts of all of us at DICE,” senior producer Sara Jansson said on the Mirror’s Edge website. “The first game had a lot of promise. It was unlike anything else in terms of the gameplay and style — it had a unique soul. But as much as we loved that game, we knew it could be more. So that’s what we have set out to do as we introduce Mirror’s Edge to a new generation. “The team has spent a lot of time re-evaluating every aspect of the game and making it a new experience. This is not a sequel, this is not Mirror’s Edge 2. We have landed on a vision that honors the first game — pushing the boundaries of first person movement and diving deeper into the story behind our heroine Faith — but also brings a lot of great new, interesting gameplay and features to the experience for our players.”

Mirror’s Edge Catalyst was also confirmed for an E3 2015 appearance in that same blog post. EA has previously indicated a Q1 2016 release for Mirror’s Edge Catalyst. Look for more information to come during EA’s press conference this coming Monday.

Yesterday Dice revealed a new location for Star Wars: Battlefront in the shape of Sallust, a barren planet with snow, ice and volcanic lava.

Battlefront will ship with 12 different multiplayer maps, although there are more if you count those within the Battlefront missions. Not every map will support every mode, so you may not get to play them all in your favourite mode, whatever that may be.

Battlefront is out this November one game I can’t wait to play later this year.

The new Star Wars Battlefront will take place amid the conflicts of the original film trilogy and is scheduled for release 17th November for the US and the 20th November for the UK and the 19th November for Europe for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC.

Star Wars “Battlefront” will focus on frenzied shoot-outs between up to 40 players portraying Rebel Alliance and Galactic Empire forces. It seems the site was even shown a demonstration of the game’s multiplayer mode, from which it describes “a team of jetpack-equipped rebels shown carving their way through the woodsy Endor while Stormtroopers charged at them on foot, on speeders and within walkers, including a hulking AT-AT war machine.

The new game footage played today included the snowy Hoth, sandy Tatooine and gooey Sullust, a lava-spewing planet referenced in 1983’s “Return of the Jedi,” as well as many “Star Wars” games and novels.

This is from the in-game engine from the PlayStation 4 version

In Star Wars Battlefront won’t solely be centred on expendable ground troops, but will also allow you to play as the likes of Boba Fett and Darth Vader on the battlefield.

In the game can storm in as the Dark Lord himself, You can wield a lightsaber. You can Force choke the rebel scum. Basically, you are the boss of the battle. This means that you, as Vader, can lead your team to victory if you play well.

The most exciting part for us is that you’ll be able to take part in dogfights with TIE Fighters, X-wings and the Millennium Falcon.

You can get into these vehicles, from speeder bikes to X-wings, TIE fighters, AT-STs, AT-ATs. There’s a wide range of vehicles that we wanted to realize.

The difficulty with a game is that they need to be balanced with the troops on the ground.

Of course, with a certain Star Wars movie set to release a month after Battlefront’s release, DICE is also being given special content related to it. The Battle of Jakku, the key battle with Imperial holdouts that takes place in the immediate aftermath of “Return of the Jedi,” will be added to Battlefront as free DLC.

Players will get to see Jakku as it was before they see it as it eventually becomes in this December’s “The Force Awakens.” Those that own Star Wars Battlefront will be able to pick this DLC up free of charge on 8th December. Anyone that takes the plunge and pre-orders will be able to pick it up a week early on 1st December.

The forthcoming “Battlefront,” is part of a 10-year deal between the Walt Disney Co. and Electronic Arts to create new “Star Wars” games.

You’ve Been Patient Young Padawans, and soon your Patience will be Rewarded.

With the Star WarsCelebrationnext month in Anaheim, CA from 16th-19th April. EA and Dice could not think of a better or more appropriate place to debut the game officially for the first time than the premier event that celebrates the Star Wars universe and the legions of fans who have fallen in love with it. For more information on Star Wars Celebration and ways to attend, please visit http://starwarscelebration.com.

Today EA and Dice released the Battlefield 4’s Winter Patch which is now live on all platforms, adding a new game mode in Squad Obliteration and more customisation options to the UI.

Here’s what’s new.

Battlefield 4 Winter PatchGeneral Improvements– Added Squad Obliteration game mode
– Added support for New player servers (rank 10 and down)
– Added support for matchmaking into ranked servers (in addition to standard official)
– Various anti-cheat improvements implemented
– In combat system now temporarily disables squad spawning when squad mate is in combat
– In combat system now temporarily disables Medic Bag healing based on damage taken and incoming suppression increase
– In combat system now temporarily disables First Aid Kit healing based on damage taken
– Decouple vehicle aiming from turning option added
– Added Mastery Dog tags for several weapons that were previously missing
– Added 3 new Premium playlists: ‘Large Scale Battles’, ‘The Battlefield’, and ‘Close Quarters’
– Fixed an issue that would sometimes cause an error about stats not fetching, if connecting to a session after immediately being disconnected
– Fixed an exploit related to CTF/Obliteration exploit using M224 Mortar/MAV/EOD Bot
– PC – Several AMD Mantle optimizations
– PC – Various graphical performance improvements
– PS4/XBOX ONE – Fixed a case where the Battledash would not show after signing out of a profile while in the rent-a-server section
– PS4/XBOX ONE – Fixed naming inconsistency with the server browser and quick match for Conquest Large
– Xbox One – Fixed an issue where the user would sometimes not enter friends online session when joining through ‘Friends List’
– Xbox One – Fixed an issue where Digital Premium Edition did not give premium access on Battlelog
– X360 – Fixed an issue where performing a sign-in change during game would sometimes result in endless black loading screen
– X360 – Fixed an issue where multiple users in the same squad would crash if the squad leader disconnected from a full server
– Added option for player to separately toggle the slowdown and auto rotation components of aim assist. Server admins can now enforce a disable of the auto rotation component on ranked servers
– All consoles – Fixed an issue where it was not possible to join a rented server that had a password set

Audio– Footsteps: Significantly improved audio of footsteps for enemies and friendlies so that they can clearly be heard. Also fixed an issue where grenades explosions or other loud sounds would mute footstep sounds
– Fixed an issue where EOR music would not play in CTF
– PC – TDM/SQDM: ‘Tension music’ now correctly playing for all teams in TDM and SQDM

Art– Updated the shading for many of the Dog tag country flags to make them more accurate
– Animation: Cleaned up fast side to side movement of the character in third person
– Fixed an issue where tracers would incorrectly show up on bullet impacts

User Interface– Fixed an issue where the soldier camouflage selected would change to default between rounds
– Fixed the cropped “Ready” status on the F-35 and J-20 fighter jets so that it is now fully visible
– Fixed a HUD related issue that would sometimes occur when players on the same server would use the FLIR/IRNV
– Dog tags will now display stats both in game and in menus
– Several hit indicator and crosshair improvements
– Fixed an issue where a player’s health is displayed incorrectly when they get hit while regenerating health
– Updated HUD Logic for several weapons so that they show “overheat” messages correctly
– Tweaked Jet HUDs to be more clear
– Improved scout helicopter crosshairs
– All consoles – Removed an incorrect reference to parachute in the customization screen
– Deploy screen – Added deploy screen advanced options to show vehicle passengers, more details on occupants and squad mates
– Deploy screen – Improved squad mate selection when in vehicles

Vehicles– All helicopters have new more agile physics applied (you can do both barrel rolls and loops!)

Weapons– Animation updates for m412 and sw30
– Fixed an audio bug where the air missiles or TV guided missiles would play multiple times for one shot
– Fixed an audio bug where the FAC boat cannons would loop indefinitely
– Adjusted the graphics for the Kobra red dot reticle to make it longer to more closely match the actual reticle
– Removed small animation played when going into sprint for any weapons that have a fore grip
– Adjusted QBZ95 fore grip position in first person
– Fix for RPK74 bolt cycle during fire animation
– Improved HUD clarity for red dot sights against snowy/bright backgrounds – AND improved PS3/Xbox360 look as well
– PS3/PS4 – Fixed an instance where a player would be unable to switch back to the bow from a secondary weapon if spawning as a passenger in a vehicle
– X360 – Fixed an issue where Vehicle IRNV would not detect infantry on equal elevation properly

Get ready to own more and be more with the Battlefield 4 Premium Edition. Packed with content, the Battlefield 4 Premium Edition includes an intense single-player campaign and the multiplayer experience found in Battlefield 4 that lets players experience the rush of all-out-warfare on land, air and sea. The Battlefield 4 Premium Edition also delivers fans a Battlefield 4 Premium membership which provides access to five themed digital expansion packs with tons of multiplayer content including 20 maps, game modes, a variety of weapons and vehicles and more.

The Battlefield 4 Premium Edition will be available on for PC starting 21st October priced at £39.99. From 24th October, it will be available in the UK via Digital Download on PlayStation 4, Xbox One (both priced at £54.99) and PlayStation 3 (priced at £39.99).

Get ready to fight in the Asia Pacific dense urban environments with Battlefield 4 Dragon’s Teeth, the fourth extension of Battlefield 4.

Available from 15th July for members Battlefield 4 Premium, Dragon’s Teeth propels players into four new maps offering Unique gameplay environments and an overexcited, narrow alleys Market pearls floating restaurant Dragon submerged.

Dragon’s Teeth also offers five unpublished in the Battlefield series weapons, a new gadget, the ballistic shield, and a new game mode, chain links, a revamped version of Conquest Mode where you must connect the capture points to win victory. Fans can also meet ten new missions featuring unlockable items and use RAWR, a new vehicle without remotely controlled and pilot armed to the teeth.

Now EA and DICE has launched the latest Battlefield 4 DLC pack, Naval Strike for the Xbox One.

The Naval combat which is a focused expansion which was released alongside a new Battlefield 4 patch, both of which launched on PS4, PS3 and Xbox 360 earlier this week.

With Xbox One version of Naval Strike was delayed so DICE could “address issues in the animation system that hinder players from engaging targets in set circumstances using popular weapon configurations”.

With the PC version, which has yet to receive a new release date, was also pushed back.

Xbox One general fixes

General stability improvements

Fix for a crash that could occur when players were customizing vehicles.

Fix for an issue in the Rush game mode where end-of-round screen would always indicate that there were 60 minutes left of the game.

Fix for an issue where the splash damage for IFV shells, Helicopter rockets, and Mortar rounds was unable to destroy deployed equipment.

Fix for an issue that could cause the quad bike to explode when it hit indestructible objects.

Fix for an issue that would cause sniper rifles to display too much bloom when aiming in snowy conditions, especially the outside areas of Operation Locker.

Fix for an issue where the ECM would sometimes fail to jam incoming missiles.

Shortened the take-off distances for jets to match the length of the runways in Second Assault maps.

Fix for going above ceiling exploits in Operation Metro.

Fix for a new MAV riding exploit.

Fix for kill camera jittering/strobing sometimes if colliding with other world objects or terrain.

Fix for soldiers getting catapulted when walking on steep surfaces.

Netcode

Fix for an issue where the kill camera would display the incorrect killer.

Fix for an issue where the kill card won’t show up when playing on servers which have the kill camera turned off.

Fixed an issue where other soldiers would appear to fire in the wrong direction when turning quickly.

Fix for weapons firing twice, or not at all in some instances.

Fix for an issue where explosions didn’t do any damage to infantry and vehicles that were outside of the combat area.

Progression

Added Gold Battlepacks as rewards for Class Service Stars, allowing players that have reached the max Rank to continue earning new Battlepacks.

Weapons / Gadgets tweaks

Increased the damage of the normal buckshot against targets with Body Armor.

Reduced the vertical recoil of the M4 and M16A4 to give these burst fire weapons a tighter burst accuracy in their mid- to long range role.

Reduced the side-to-side and first shot recoil of the G36C. This weapon now has the lowest side-to-side recoil of the carbines, giving it a clear controllable low rate of fire role, especially when compared to the AK5C, Type-95B-1 and the AKU-12.

Tweaked the detonation time of the 40mm LVG so it bounces less before going off. The maximum damage has however been reduced to 80 like the RGO.

Reduced the number of how many 40mm HE and LVG rounds players can carry, from 4 to 3.

Increased the time it takes to get new 40mm round from ammo boxes. The time is longer for HE and LVG grenades and shorter for utility grenades like SMK and FLASH.

Grenade tweaks

Increased the time it takes to get new RGO IMPACT, V40 MINI, M84 FLASHBANG and M18 SMOKE grenades from ammo boxes. Since the player now carries more of these grenades, the resupply delay needed to be longer to prevent grenade spamming.

Vehicle tweaks

Significantly improved the suppression from mounted vehicle weapons, including miniguns, HMGs, LMGs, and all shells types for all armored vehicles.

Aircraft tweaks

Further reduced the repair rate for the Scout Helicopters and the Transport Helicopters.

Significantly increased the damage of Transport Helicopter miniguns.

Changed the flight ceilings on Gulf of Oman, Caspian Border and Operation Firestorm to better match the height of the structures in those levels.

Adjusted the damage of the 25mm and 30mm cannons for both Stealth Jets and Mobile AA to be equal in Damage Per Second to the 20mm default weapons. These weapons were clearly poorer choices in all circumstances, and their different rates of fire are intended to be the player’s choice factor for these weapon systems.

AC-130 Gunship tweaks

Increased the splash damage and the range at which the JDAM bombs can achieve max splash damage. The JDAM’s power was not properly balanced with its difficulty to use. The JDAM remains a primarily anti-vehicle weapon, though this change will increase the effectiveness against all targets.

Increased the accuracy and direct hit damage of the AC130 40mm cannons. 40mm cannons can now be used to fire pinpoint shots in 2-3 round bursts, enabling them to provide accurate fire on infantry and vehicle targets. Their velocity has also been marginally increased to aid their accuracy.

Increased the splash damage and range of the AC130 25mm cannons. These cannons now do approximately 50% more damage, in a slightly increased area of impact. The increased damage as well as increased suppression effects will allow the 25mm cannon to fill its role as an area of effect weapon against infantry.

Today DICE has released a new Battlefield 4 for the Xbox One, with this update which raises the multiplayer’s maximum rank to 120 and more in the latest update.

Battlefield 4

Xbox One update – 10th March

Here are the release notes.

Several crash fixes and stability improvements
-Fixed an issue with data re-sending that was causing rubberbanding on some servers
-Increased the maximum rank to 120
-Fixed an issue with the kill camera triggering before game client would display the last portion of damage being dealt, giving players the impression that they died too early
-Fixed issue with blood effects, damage indicators, and health bar updates in the HUD being out of sync. This issue meant that players would sometimes miss information about being shot at, or get the impression of too few hits occurring for the amount of bullets that hit.
-Tweaked the speed, dispersion, and re-arm duration of the IFV and MBT projectiles
-Tweaked timing for how long the killfeed stays on screen
-Fixed an issue where the message “Joining Server” sometimes didn’t appear when the user tried to join the server
-Added default player slots to server browser filters
-Fix for an issue on Silk Road where players could deform the terrain to create a big, water-filled hole
-Fix for a bug that occurred with the end-of-round camera if the player was in the bomber in China Rising
-Fix for an issue on Rogue Transmission where it was impossible to capture a flag while riding the quad bike
-Prevented players from interacting with an M-Com on Siege of Shanghai after it had been destroyed
-Fixed an issue where audio for disarming M-Coms could get stuck in an infinite loop
-Added minimap details for missing carriers in Rush on Paracel Storm and Hainan Resort
-Fix for an exploit that would allow players to shoot two tank shells with not enough delay between shots
-Removed a bug where squads would get split up when transitioning between Conquest and Air Superiority
-Fixed an issue where Defuse could get stuck in an unplayable state between rounds
-Removed a bug that would cause players to sometimes get stuck in the killcam after having been killed
-Fixed an issue with revive icon not being greyed out in-game on map and minimap, when the player died after getting revived in Defuse
-General improvements and bug fixes for the Battledash and Mission create screens
-Fixed a bug where red laser dots would get stuck on textures
-Zoom dispersion fix. When zooming in while firing the dispersion did not lower to the new max value
-Fixed a bug where the enemy health always displayed as full in the kill-cam
-Fixed an issue in Defuse so killed bomb carrier can’t plant a bomb in the next round without picking up a new bomb
-The MAV has been updated to prevent players from exploiting it
-Improved repair rates for vehicles with different base healths
-Tweaked volume balance and other ambience parameters on the majority of base game and China Rising maps
-Improved the track vehicles wheel friction so vehicles don’t get stuck at relatively minor hills
-Fixed an issue with faulty zoom levels that occurred when using click to zoom in. While sprinting and zooming, will mess up the zoom levels, from hip to zoom.
-Improved boat physics and handling, including implementation of a system that lets players push stuck boats back in the water

SPECTATOR MODE
-Added a chat feature, allowing spectators to take part of the chat of the match they’re spectating
-Fix for the EMP/Proxy Attack effects being visible in Spectator Mode
-Removed the black screen that was visible when switching between cameras and players in Spectator Mode
-Removed squad colors in Spectator Mode, now only the red and blue team colors are visible
-Decreased the user interface clutter in Spectator Mode by removing health pack, ammo pack and revive icons
-Tweaked the 1st person view in Spectator Mode so that spectators now see exactly what players see and nothing else
-Added a functionality in Spectator Mode so that, when going into Freecam from 1st or 3rd person mode, the first static freecam will be moved to behind the previously spectated player
-Added the possibility in Spectator Mode to ‘fire’ at a player from Freecam to go into 1st person view of that player
-Spectators can now see which player on the scoreboard that carries the bomb in the Obliteration and Defuse game modes

NOTE: For in-depth details on all the balancing tweaks below, head to our “Balancing BF4″ articles.

GRENADE TWEAKS
-Increased the number of M84 FLASHBANG and HAND FLARES the player can carry from 2 to 3.
-Increased the effect of M84 FLASHBANG grenades on friendly and enemy players.
-Increased the maximum damage for the RGO from 67 to 80, however reduced the range of explosion.
-Reduced the visual and audio effect for the detonation of the V40 Mini to highlight its smaller blast when compared to other grenades. Decreased the maximum damage from 80 to 60, and decreased the range at which maximum damage is applied.

PISTOL TWEAKS
-Increased the aimed accuracy of the M1911 to make it a viable choice once the COMPACT 45 has been unlocked.
-Increased the close range damage of the M1911, QSZ-92, FN57, CZ-75 and COMPACT 45.
-Reduced the delay between pressing the trigger and the bullet firing for the M412 REX and .44 MAGNUM.
-Increased the magazine capacity of the QSZ-92 to 20 rounds. Additionally reduced the recoil of the QSZ-92 to give it a clear difference from the FN57.
-Corrected a small error with the COMPACT 45 accuracy when crouched or prone.

WEAPON TWEAKS
-Increased the accuracy of pump action shotguns (870 MCS, HAWK 12g, SPAS-12, and UTS 15) while on the move and aiming.
-Reduced the long range damage of the MTAR to bring it in line with the rest of the Carbines.
-Adjusted the way inaccuracy is handled when transitioning from Hip fire to Aimed fire.
-The Heavy Barrel’s Accuracy bonus now also applies on the move, at a reduced bonus. This should give the Heavy Barrel a wider role for players who desire accuracy while aimed in all situations.
-Synchronized the timing of the aim down the sights animation of sniper rifles with their ability to fire with full accuracy. Players no longer need to wait for additional time after the aiming animation plays to get accurate shots. There is still a delay to achieve full accuracy, so Quick Scoping is still not possible.
-The SRS bolt action time has been tweaked and the rate of fire has been lowered
-The GOL bolt action time has been tweaked
-The muzzle velocity for the MP7 has been reduced
-The MTAR21 muzzle velocity has been reduced
-Updated the handling of the 1x scopes for Type95B1, A91, SteyrAug, SAR21, QBZ951, FAMAS, UTAS, MTAR, L85A2, and F2000
-Updated rate of fire for the RGP7 and NLAW

VEHICLE TWEAKS
-Reduced the total amount of missiles carried by the Mobile Anti-Aircraft vehicles from 6 to 4.
-Reduced the velocity of the MAA’s default 20MM CANNON from 1200m/s to 800m/s to match the 30MM CANNON.
-Reduced the physical impact of all Anti-Aircraft missiles to prevent helicopters from flipping uncontrollably when hit. The damage values have not been changed.
-Reduced the cone in which ACTIVE RADAR missiles search for targets, making them require a higher level of skill in predicting where a target will be when the missile is fired.
-Increased the direct damage done by the Attack Helicopter’s gunner cannon. The gunner will be better able to assist the pilot in taking down vehicle targets with this change.
-Increased the direct hit damage of the Zuni Rockets for Attack Helicopters. The rate of fire of these rockets combined with their smaller magazine pool made them a poor choice over the other two rocket types.
-Reduced the splash damage and maximum splash damage range of the Scout Helicopter 25MM CANNONS.
-Reduced the “intelligence” of the MBT LAW missiles, requiring the player to aim the missile closer to their target before the smart projectile will activate. Additionally, the MBT LAW now reloads slightly slower. Finally, a bug where the MBT LAW would pass through an ACTIVE PROTECTION shield has been fixed.
-Fixed an issue where ACTIVE PROTECTION and the MP-APS did not properly stop 12G FRAG rounds.
-Reduced the range where the M2 SLAM will do maximum damage to vehicles from 6M to 3M. The range was deemed to be too large, making the M2 SLAM far superior to the M15 AT MINE.
-Reduced the damage the STAFF shell does to all targets by 25%. This should balance the ease of use of the STAFF shell with its damage potential.

Today Dice and EA have released DICE new Battlefield 4 patches for the PC and Xbox One versions of the game. Also DICE plans to roll out the first part of the pre game lobby feature ‘Platoons’ on Tomorrow 27th, February. But unlike many of the modern multiplayer shooters which feature pre game lobby systems, but will Battlefield 4 offers no way for players to group up in-game before joining matches, making it difficult for friends to stick together. Dice and EA hoping the Platoons will fix the problem with group of friends play Battlefield 4 together.

Feb 25 PC game update notes

Fix for the so called “sound loop crash” issue that caused the game to freeze

Fix for an issue that sometimes prevented players from shooting while in the gunner position of a vehicle

Fix for the headshot icon appearing incorrectly at non-headshot deaths, such as suicide or dying of an explosion

General stability improvements

Mantle

General stability and performance improvements

Fix for an issue that caused the sky/fog to be either too bright or too dark when Mantle was used

Award winning multiplayer, disappointingly mundane singleplayer and a large number of necessary patches. EA and Dice ported Battlefield 4 onto the next generation of consoles with a veritable plethora of bugs, crashes, instabilities and many a vicious forum. Now that the dust of war has settled around everyone’s feet, let’s see how it holds up now that most of the issues have been addressed.

Having not been an enormous fan of Battlefield 4’s singleplayer experience on the last gen, due to it’s largely uneventful and predictable plot it still managed to surprise me how much power they squeezed out of the PS3 and Xbox 360. It looked fantastic, lighting and explosions were almost no match for the infamous Battlefield audio effects; crackling, recoil heavy gunfire only surpassed by the oxymoronic clear thud of a grenades impact. Whilst the overall effect on PS3 felt muted by dull colours, some bland textures, somewhat stiff facial and character animations, the PS4’s brute strength gives it that attention to detail that was sorely missed before. From a distance it’s better, up close it’s a different game.

It’s still a shame to see, for a series so well established in creating huge, open maps, the single player portions being choked down narrow corridors and funnelled through non-interactive areas of the map. The only time you do get to stretch your legs, is ironically, the tank piloting section, of which you can do yourself a favour/disadvantage and hotfoot it across open terrain with a palm full of C4, grimacing and hoping the AI doesn’t decide to insta-kill you. An interesting alternative would be to completely restructure the way missions are done, and set it in an open world environment, letting you drive to missions or request air support for cover or extraction. It may never work, but the way first person shooters are headed now, they’ll be no discernable reason to include single player anymore; despite their shortcomings, would be a very sad day.

For better or worse, Battlefield relies upon it’s multiplayer to captivate and conquer the masses. Whilst there isn’t a world of difference between the singleplayer portions on both current and last gen, the multiplayer is where the shock and awe lies. Gone are the days of scoping in, squinting, deciding ‘it’s just a rock’, only to get sniped in the back by an indistinguishable pebble. Gone are the days of low player counts, awful grass textures and sea that looks like wobbly concrete. Here are the days that bring eye popping hurricanes, 64 player matches, high frame rates and sea so choppy you’ll need a pocket full of Fisherman’s Friends.

The difference in fidelity between PS3 and PS4 is astounding, just loading up the test range gives you an idea in quality difference. No longer do maps feel barren and like a wasteland, scores of vehicles roar towards each other, battles include numbers of tanks that when spotted, feel intimidating for the lowly engineer. Before, seeing a tank slowly meandering it’s way towards you looked like free points, now, with a dominating team, a squadron of armour with accompanying air support looks like hell.

Returning to Battlefield 4 is the often intimidating, always cool, commander mode, downloadable on tablets for both Android and Apple it let’s you take the hotseat and see how much of a pretend commander badass you really are. Organising UAV’s, supply drops and countering enemy intelligence is all par for the fast paced course. Whilst difficult to get into, there are plenty of tutorials out there to help you get organising your platoon in a timely fashion. Just don’t expect people to always listen to you…

The connection, considering the potential 64 player mayhem on maps so large it embarrasses other shooters, is very good. Although, taking into account the mostly aggressive recoil, destructible environments and huge verticality, knowing whether or not you’ve been diddled a few bullets would be difficult at the best of times. I would still like to see a first person killcam for those incredulous moments when you just don’t have a clue what happened however.

Many of the issues that plagued both the last gen release and the pre-patch release of Battlefield 4 on PS4 still fundamentally haunt my experience. Fortunately, the list of improvements is ever expanding, as is the content being offered via DLC. Whilst other multi-platform games offer little other than a graphical overhaul, Battlefield adds more players, larger, more detailed maps and the true Battlefield experience.